I can tell you if you lived near me and were willing to come out and help with repairs that $500 difference wouldn't mean a damn thing. I would take that deal in a second.
How much will it cost him to get it up and running? Just because you can doesn't mean he can and he can't expect free help. It will cost him $$$ to get those issues repaired. It's a fair deal and in the future if you still feel bad go and help him with some more repairs.

straight up

It sounds like an even trade is being generous on your part. With all the unknowns of the TFTC you don't really know what you are getting exactly thus you are taking on a risk.

I certainly would not be giving any money from your side between those two machines, but I am not an expert like you. I know from reading the posts on this site that you can get that sucker working great, and an even trade is probably good if both sides would be happy. Both sides being satisfied is what really matters. You don't want to have any bad feelings on either side.

Straight up and a case of beer. sounds like your a good man, robert.

Definitely nice of you to even look into it. With all the work it needs I would say straight up is fair or add in a small amount. Fixing these machines takes work & time. Hiring someone to fix something that needs as much care as this one appears to need could get pretty expensive. So all and all I think a straight trade is pretty fair.

I think he should play quite a few games on SOF, before a deal is struck, to make sure he likes it. It would be a hard trade for me, without trying SOF first.

Does he only have one pin? You know he'll want two. Trade straight up and maybe in the future if you are thinking about selling it you let him have a sweatheart deal if you still feel you got the better end of the trade.

+1

Robert , You are 1 of a kind.. I'd say and Even Trade and he Throw's in 3 visit's for you to Yr Local Chiropractor .. After see'ing you Yesterday drag-n yr Left foot and Hunched over, You Don't need to be Lugg-n no Pinball up some stair's.. And Rob, when you Feel the Need to play some BSD , Come & get mine and Keep it for a Month ,,,,, ( NOT ) ,,,,,

008.JPG

As others have said, straight up is generous. If you are feeling bad, shop out the SoF for him first.

You could also give him the option to swap back with him adding some cash after it is 100%. With the amount of work you'll be putting into it I'd say a few hundred at least.

I think a straight up trade would be the way to go....you will have to put alot of time and a fair amount of money regardless if you do the repairs yourself or not.

Don't worry B_R, I don't expect Robert to help me move those heavy things. That's something my brother and I will do. I've offered to help him with moving things around too, anytime, if he needs it. Got to try out a Creature at Robert's for the first time. One word: awesome!

Robert, I'm not surprised on this thread....
I wish more Roberts for the world.

+1

Well, believe me when I say I've spent a bundle on this TFTC. In retrospect, I never should have bought from out of state on Ebay. That was a big lesson. It's unfortunate that I found Pinside only after winning my bid. Things would have probably went differently.
I initially paid $1666 for it. Shipping was a beast, the most I've heard anyone pay for shipping these things. It was about a 1/3 of what I paid for the machine. My TFTC arrived fairly well, with the cracked DMD as an exception. Bought a cliffy, some target decals, the rules insert, and a new DMD for it. Had a tech from craigslist come to get the thing up and running. He charges 50 to come over and then 50 an hour. When he came he brought his girlfriend and had whisky on his breath. That didn't give me a very good impression. However, he was able to install the new DMD and the cliffy. He was sweating profusely trying to answer my questions. Maybe I just make people nervous, I don't know. Though I must say, the way he carelessly swung his screwdriver around my circuit board made ME nervous. And unfortunately, that's all that got done after an hour and a half. I could tell he was trying to milk me on time and play stupid with certain aspects of the machine to get there. So I just ended the session. Once they left, I got about 3 hours of solid play on my machine before it started acting up with the current round of problems that Robert mentioned.

A straight up trade sounds good to me. Everyone else seems to think so too. I'm sure you can get the TFTC running correctly. I wouldn't be trading with you if I didn't think that. There won't be any bad feelings on my side. Finding you and Pinside has been a blessing in all this mess. I humbly thank the pinball gods on that score!

I've had both and really like both and in this case I would say straight up is totally fair. Don't count SoF down so much! It's a great game! There is no other game with drop targets that play you instead of the other way around. If you really want to play SoF well you'll have to fight that upper playfield and those targets. They should have been called "Smart Targets" by todays vernacular

All you'll be missing vs the TFTC is shaker motor and dmd. Williams games don't "give" you a consolation multiball like DE does. You'll have to work for it on SoF. All in all if Robert is willing to give up a nice SoF *and* do the work on the TFTC I say go for it. JT seems like he just wants something reliable and fun to play. SoF sounds perfecto in this case.

Good luck, gentlemen.

Thanks, Cliffy! We trade machines on Monday. I can't wait to play SoF.

Heard so many good things about SoF, and would love to own one myself.
I think a straight trade is quite solid.

The Number of the beast

I agree that a straight up trade is fair. DEVILinIRON is going to lose money regardless. robertmee is taking a big risk, but if he is lucky and after a fair amount of work he stands to come out ahead, but he is still taking a massive risk.

As long as both people are happy who cares though? Both games are fun to play and if everyone walks away happy then the money aspect is negligible.

Straight up sounds like the right deal here. TFTC is worth more, but it has enough work required that it negates any price difference in my book.

SoF Has *THE* best rock'n multiball soundtrack in all of pinball and absolutely screams for a real subwoofer. It's all bassline when multiball starts. You'll love it, just wait! First thing when you get it, crank the volume UP!

DITO, you could replace the beer with a bottle.

I like the idea you could always swap back later. Even though the TFTC should be easy, you never know. It could cost more than you think.

+1000,Nothing like the sounds of SOF.Good Luck to both of you guys

straight trade...top heavy a little but your taking all the risk.
If it fixes cheap send him what makes you feel good about the trade.